Friday 27 October 2023

Debt Of Nature – "Robin Diamond's Lungs" (A.R.P.H. Tapes – AT # 003) 1982



Throbbing Gristle played two shows in the USA,and they were both in California;HERE and HERE!
So, kids hear TG,then they play like TG,even securing the dubious skills of Monte Cazazza donated towards the recording of this cassette,which, by the way, features the participation(Again) of one Brad Laner;member of too many groups to remember.
So yeah, it sounds like Throbbing Gristle.There's even a few Charles Manson news reports recorded off the Television,to further flesh out the cliché.....but, i'm a sucker for some Old Skool Industrial.Its the ultimate great leveller in musical terms,like Dub Reggae.Also equally effective as background music for that fondue soirée you've been meaning to throw for the neighbours.
Anyone can do it.Zero Chords required,unlike the one that's recommended for any decent Punk rock tune,or the Mozart-like three that's needed for a Ramones/Status Quo number....Fuck That!
Ironically,as a bonus, any Industrial Artist gets to be taken semi-seriously by the chin stroking bespectacled chumbawumba set from the Artier end of town, whereas Punk Groups or Satus Quo,forward slash,Ramones are looked upon as some sort of tribe of Idiots.


Tracklist:

A1 N Counter
A2 Bed Time
A3 Industrial Elitists
A4 Dead Cow Manifesto
A5 All Through The Night
A6 Blood Was Everywhere
A7 In An Orgy Of Murder
A8 DrM/SbC
A9 Intellectual Decompression
A10 The Cross
B1 Inside Out Effect
B2 Graphic Truth
B3 Fascist Insect
B4 Grin
B5 Survival
B6 Fuck Peace
B7 Nothing Matters
B8 To Be Governed

Tuesday 24 October 2023

WCKR SPGT – "The Charles Mansion: A Rock Opera By WCKR SPGT" (Traumatone – TT28) 1986


 

Another band name that won't get you on the Billboard Hot Ten Million,or even featured in a liberal conversation on the subject of obscure bands,because no-one can remember the name or pronounce it. Prince tried it with his 'symbol' concept,and that went tits-up, as did that eighties band, belatedly called Freur,when previously they only had a prince before Prince symbol as their moniker.Sadly, I am informed, Freur went on to become the profoundly irritating one hit wonder middle-aged ravers,Underworld,or was that Underpants?

The Freur symbol as seen on their smash 1983 number 17 hit in New Zealand, "Doot Doot".
I suppose WCKR SPGT come under the pranksters with lucrative day-jobs category, the UK equivalent  being something like The Ceramic Hobs, or Danny and the Dressmakers.
Apparently they've released a new album called "Hackney Diamonds", which by sheer coincidence happens to be the title of the new Rolling Stones album.Ho! Ho! Those cheeky Monkeys.
Skipping through their long established website, I spotted one Michael Gerald ,late of the group Killdozer contributing vocals on a duet with an Wckr Spgt-er, so they must be ok...yeah?
However, what fooled me into taking notice was the enticing prospect of some complete idiot making a Charles Manson Musical.
Only later did I realise that the title spelled Mansion and not Manson...i felt cheated,but isn't that what this lot are all about?
Merry Pranksters in the tradition of the KLF and Negativland, but with shitter music.
They must all be well in their 60's by now, having formed in 1981,but they're still chucking out the pranks it seems....and why the fuck not?
Oh,.... the music?
Its lo-fi DIY in the style we all know and love.Lots of echo on the Resident-esque hi-pitched vocals,with what hints at Harmoniser ownership in places;further raising my suspicious shell-likes to the well-paid dilettante possibilities, as an eventide Harmonizer cost a kings ransom back in the 80's. These chaps had a well paid job or two in their ranks.
Disappointed at the lack of a Manson Musical on these cassettes,a lead role tailor made for Michael Ball,and Ashley Banjo's Diversity street dancers as the Family....ON ICE!....wow!? I will now have to console myself with a fun moment, thinking only of my fantasy Rock-Opera Musicals.....someone already did "Plan Nine From Outer-space" didn't they...bastards!
I've got lots of Idea's for a musical about the Waco Siege,featuring Wayne Sleep as David Koresh? its just the problem as to who owns the copyright to Koresh's songs?
If its his surviving kids, forget it...they think I'm an Asshole....which isn't entirely inaccurate one must admit!?...you didn't know I was so Humble did you?
I'll suggest a Lucy Letby musical to my fellow justice seekers, including some dancing Babies and Michael Flatley as an evil jewish senior Doctor disguised as a loveable Irish consultant......P.S. have you selfish fuckers signed the free Lucy Letby Petition yet?...NO?...FFS...click here then!?

Tracklist:

No Sign of Danger
Ox Chase
The Girl (Still Running)
The House On The Hillside Strangler
In Retrospect
No Sign Of Danger 2
Goodbye Ox
Should I go in?
The Charles Mansion
Rude Awakening
Uninvited Guest At A Dinner Party
Everything's Scary
The Back yard
Respect For Lawnmowers
Unfair Prospect
Big-Faced Girl
History repents
Because(She'll do anything)
Elegant Dirt
Lost in Texas
Intuition and Stupidity
Elegant Dirt 2
Should I go Inside
Lifting the Tissue
A Thousand Hail Mary's
She Lies
Tarla Walks
I'll See You In Heaven
No Sign Of Danger
Getting to the Root
Pursuit
Escape
After The fact
Charles Mansion
Epilogue
The Charles Mountain
Folkal Point
The Cleaning Of the Rock
Getting It Down
God Talks To The Man and The Ox
Tustin Coin-op
The Ox Strikes Back
The Apology(Accepted)
God Starts To Cry
To The Bronx
Memories Of a Recent Journey
The Finding Of The Foot
Back at The Charles Mountain

Monday 23 October 2023

SEP/8363 – ".04" (Party Sound Tapes – P.S.-6) 1984


Not that you give seven shades of shite,but,I have a liking for groups with totally unrecallable names,unpronounceable names that don't work in any filing system,even the Dewey Decimal, and are near google proof.No-one is quite sure if its the title or the catalog number.I also like a good collage,so this scores heavily on the non music front,as well as sporting a rather nifty brand of Non-Music itself. All this, together means the music comes a poor fourth place in my priorities.
Of course this is yet another group that features Severed Head In The Bag's own Brad Laner. Who not only has a natural aptitude for the abstract, and the noncommercial,but seems to have no real need to be a somebody,or even a no-body,or anybody save himself.From such rich pastures does arise thee perfect conditions to make art such as this.Art that clears the room of dumb people....I hesitate to say Trump fans,so i won't, to avoid elongated and pointless tit-for-tat arguments about the post-fact reality in the comments section....but you know what i'm getting at don't you? 
Anyway, there's a top snooker player called Trump also,who does seem to attract a dumb people entourage attracted to his reckless style of attacking populist snooker.
The noble art of Snooker aside, this tape is just one of the many delightfully weird offshoots of the Los Angeles Free Music Society,of whom Brad was but one of the members.
Whether he plays Snooker I dunno, but I reckon he's got an interesting safety game.

Tracklist:

A-1 Restaurant 1:58
A-2 EDB 2:30
A-3 Power Structure 3:53
A-4 See You 3:18
A-5 When I Was Young I Prayed With Butt Puppets 7:11
A-6 I Also Saw Frank Bleeding On Angry Mountain 2:31
A-7 Lhasa Club Feb 1984 (excerpt) 2:43
A-8 Majority 1:27
B-1 Doctors With Teeths 4:46
B-2 Something As It Really Is ! 2:34
B-3 Not You Nor I 3:45
B-4 For Damaged Compression 8:08
B-5 Expected Systems 3:46
B-6 Cough Syrups 2:54
B-7 Due To The Mouth Thing 3:18
B-8 Explaining Pork to David 4:29
B-9 Ineinlander Fallende Alte Häuser 1:52


Thursday 19 October 2023

Severed Head In A Bag – "Severed Head In A Bag" (Party Sound Tapes – P.S.-18) 1983


From what I hear on most international propaganda platforms, there are quite a few severed heads rolling around in the holy-land as I type.Most of those, i assume, will inevitably find their way into a body bag,hopefully reuniting them with the correct torso.
A bad taste intro I'll admit, but this direction enables me to,firstly, introduce the only long playing cassette by abstract noise rockers,featuring Brad Laner and various Three Day Stubble geeks,the very great,"Severed Head In A Bag"; and secondly, issue a warning of some noisy bad taste overloaded immoral rubbish to come.....I say rubbish,but that's subjective isn't it?Just as Morality is?
Morality is subjective,but Subjectivity is also objective? Alas ,Not in a rational scheme of perception.Perception is irrational and It does imply immanence.
But judgment of any system or the intuitively obvious relation of phenomena exists in any rational or metaphysical or at least epistemological contradiction to an abstracted empirical concept such as being, or to be, or to occur in the thing itself, or of the thing itself.
As I always say;Moral notions imply attributes to substances which exist only in a relational duality.
And, you'd be well within your rights to counter with...,Ahh,but not as an essential extension of ontological existence......Ahaaaaa!

So enjoy this rather fine abstract rock workout safe in the knowledge that this opinion comes from the power of reasoning based on self-evident truths.One of which is that this Kicks some serious buttlines of reasoning, or arguments that proceed from the general to the particular, or from causes to effects.
Most definitely an essential extension of ontological existence if ever I've seen,or heard, one.

Tracklist:

A1 The Man With The Exploding Head
A2 Mr. Dixon
A3 The White Ladies Are Dancing
A4 Kissy Face
A5 Eat Your Own Young
A6 Bad Cube
A7 Brownian Movement
A8 Chunk Of Bleeding Mass
A9 Country Music Award
A10 Killer Clown
A11 Belkins Box
A12 The Hungry Waiter
A13 Tiki God
B1 Underground Trumpet
B2 Closed
B3 Los Genius
B4 Tokyo Today
B5 (Let's Go To The) Mink Farm
B6 Almost Blackout
B7 5 Kinds Of Cancer
B8 41 Drop Gorgeous
B9 Chunk of Bleeding Mass (part 2)
B10 Blank Silence

DOWNLOAD is in the bag HERE!

Sunday 8 October 2023

Jandek – "Brooklyn Sunday" (Corwood Industries – CORWOOD 0859) 2023


Heeeeeeres Jonny!....on a crusade for truth justice and the unamerican way.....and a quest to make unpopularity popular again.
All that, played out to a soundtrack of atonal improvisation by the unpopularly popular JANDEK.....he knows she didn't do it,come and SIGN THE PETITION,before you read the facts,and wallow in the acidic bath of becoming ripe Troll bait.Satisfied in knowing you done good,perched on the right side of History.

There seems to be an actual theme to this recording,again from 2009,but featuring outsider Pedal Steel Guitar, Susan Alcorn.
It seems to be about a miscarriage of justice leading to execution,and eternal punishment.
Jandeks Harmonica and Alcorn's Steel Guitar seems to suggest the regular abuse of justice carried out in the old Wild West.
Of course this doesn't happen today does it?With all that technology ,foolproof scientific tests,and statistics? Nah!
That said I've got a bee in my bonnet about something......

Wasn't there a Nurse from the wild north west of England who was convicted purely on the strength of flawed statistics, and easily contested circumstantial evidence that her state funded defense team hardly bothered to contest? The stats said she was there every-time a very ill premature baby died,statisticians have shown it more to be a case of fitting the statistics to the person rather than,a person to the stats....They died of what, they never really established,despite The Coroner having already ruled the deaths as natural causes. There wasn't even a proven crime committed.But, oh no,like some people still refuse to recognise that Elvis could have died from natural causes, it seems that there are plenty more would don't believe a sick baby could die without being murdered.
Of course I am referring to the Lucy Letby case,who, along with other such cases involving health workers,has been stitched up like a kipper and thrown under the bus to save the NHS's blushes.
I mean,J.H. Christ, where do you want me to start!? The apparent ease in which the Police can change a cause of death from natural causes to Murder is deeply troubling,coupled with a trial that didn't seem to feel the need to present the science that explained why these very ill babies died,the Plumber the joke of a defense team called,tried his best;but he explained that the ward was rife with the permanent presence of pathogens and virus's,leaving the infants exposed to killer conditions like Sepsis.....in fact Lucy even complained on 17 occasions about the conditions....strange behavior for a murderer me thinks.
Lucy did overtime,so she must have murdered them because she was in love with a handsome Doctor. Such was the blatant misogyny in all areas of this case that this was put forward as the only desperate excuse for a motive ever heard in a British Court!? Yeah, that's right, she murdered babies to gain admiring glances from this dashing blade from the senior Doctors department.

The case against Lucy Letby has often been referred to by those of us who have looked closely at the evidence as a 'witch hunt', a crime that particularly impacted women,
When "Expert for Hire" Dr Dewi Evans was questioned about Lucy's possible motives, he gives Lucy's status as a "single woman"(?) in her late twenties and alleged 'infatuation' with Dr A as a grounds for suspicion, this after he mentions earlier in the interview that he remained single into the beginning of his career as a consultant. He considers himself career focused while she is suspicious.
I'm not sure how useful this comment is in terms of appeal, especially because flagrant sexism seems to be ignored or taken as a normal worldview especially in older members of the population, but in Dr Evans case I can't help wondering if evidence pointed to an unmarried, 'career- focused' doctor, his finding might have been a bit better informed?

But the Public are angry...yes the Fucking Public again,are foaming at the mouth like rabid Baboons,baying for blood,and revenge, like a 17th century Wytch trial.If you drown you're innocent, if you don't we'll hang you.

Jandek would have been burnt as a witch if he was around Salem back then.....maybe today he would just get away with a sound beating from a drunken Mob of Morons, or maybe not.Humans are dangerous.


Lucy Letby was convicted and sentenced to spend the rest of her life in jail for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others. She is facing retrial for one further attempted murder charge. On five other counts of attempted murder the jury could not reach a consensus. She has consistently maintained her innocence and some close friends and colleagues have supported her. No motives for the killings were ever put forward,except that she wanted to impress a Doctor she fancied. She was convicted almost entirely on circumstantial evidence from "expert" witnesses, who were often testifying on subjects outside their expertise. In particular, medical doctors were testifying about areas of medicine for which they were not specialists, or presenting their conclusions as "scientific", without applying correct scientific methods. As a result the evidence on which she was convicted was flawed and partial, and other likely explanations for the deaths, such as hospital infections, were not presented to the jury as part of the expert evidence. Flawed evidence was allowed to pass unchallenged in the court, or accepted as "uncontested fact" by the defense, who appear to have been out of their depth with the medical complexity of the case. Incredibly, given the nature of the evidence against her, no expert witnesses were called to testify on Lucy's behalf. This is a summary of some of the worst errors, identified by experts in their fields who able to be part of the proceedings. There are links to more detailed information available on the Science on Trial website. All this evidence was presented to the defense team during the trial, but,inexplicably, none of it was used or put before the jury?!


Lucy Letby was found guilty of killing six babies by injecting them with air. Again this was not from evidence gathered at the time. The post mortems recorded natural causes of death. Instead the prosecution relied on expert evidence from a retired pediatrician Dr Evans) through an investigation carried out several years later. The correct procedure for establishing death through air embolism should be a particular postmortem technique. But this was not done. The next best would have been a CT scan. But again this was never done. Instead the cause of death was inferred from X-rays taken before the babies died along with analysis taken from a study carried out in 1989 during the early days of ventilating preterm babies. The study used is entirely inapplicable as it examined babies with lungs damaged from high pressure oxygen, which is very different from injecting air. The expert witness in the case was not a pathologist or forensic scientist, and did not follow the correct methods for determining the cause of death, which could only have been done to any degree of certainty, through a comprehensive post mortem.


There were two babies Lucy was convicted of attempting to murder by injecting insulin. These cases were presented as "the smoking gun" which showed there was a spate of murders in the unit, rather than the more logical explanation of an uncontrolled series of infections. In the notes of these two babies investigators found (a couple of years after the event) entries of very high levels of insulin and very low levels of C-Peptide. An expert witness from the lab where the tests were done at Liverpool University NHS trust, said this pattern could only come about through injecting insulin. To the jury this was presented as proof of insulin poisoning - while Lucy Letby was the one on duty.  However the lab that did the tests specifically says in its online information that the lab test used was not designed to determine cases of insulin over-dose, and that if exogenous insulin were suspected then a different test at a different lab would be necessary. Lab experts say the type of assay tests carried out by the lab are prone to error and that the extremely high figures in the notes, which was many times the level required to send an adult into a coma, was much more likely a false result. While the result is recorded in the notes, no further tests were ordered, nor was a more accurate test by photo spectrometry carried out. Instead two hours later one of the babies (both of which survived) recorded normal glucose levels, strongly suggesting the insulin test recorded was indeed a false result. Unfortunately Lucy's defence, who seem to have been out of their depth, made an agreement early on with the prosecution where they conceded that insulin poisoning through injection of insulin into fluid bags was "established fact", based testimony of one professional expert witness:Dr Dewi Evans.


These and many other aspects of the case are covered in a more comprehensive critique of the evidence which you can read at your leisure HERE!. It was put together during the trial and sent to the defence lawyers who said they read it, but then failed to follow up or use it?????


Then we have to mention the "I AM EVIL" post-it note.On which the prosecution seemed blind to anything else except the "I AM EVIL I DID THIS" line at the end,taking it totally out of grammatical context.

The "They" she refers to is obviously The Police and her accusers.

"THEY went I DID THIS,I Killed Them on purpose because I'm not good enough to care for them,I am Evil I did This."

She is writing about her finger pointing accusers.A simple case of self-flagellation, Absolutely nowhere near a Confession.

The note is dissected expertly HERE!  




Much was made of the fact that Lucy Letby was the only one present during the deaths or sudden collapses of all 19 babies in the case against her. This was presented as too much to be co-incidence. However it also very misleading. She was not only present at all the deaths and collapses presented in the case. There were many other deaths in the unit where she was not present, and the unit suffered a higher than normal death rate over a five year period. There was no statistical analysis as to whether the proportion of deaths she was present at could have been  the result of chance or not. Neither was there a statistical comparison with other spikes in deaths in other NHS units, known to have other causes than a series of deliberate murders, to see if what happened in Chester was comparable.  It is this omission to investigate other possible causes which is most worrying.  This increase in deaths over the five years followed a similar pattern of sudden collapses, whether Lucy Letby was present or not. The most likely culprit for any spike in unexpected deaths in a hospital is an outbreak of infection. Yet this was not investigated. Nor was there any evidence from an epidemiologist or infectious diseases expert during the trial, to rule out this possibility. Yet all the babies in the case had "suspected sepsis" written in the notes. Some had confirmed viral and bacterial infections. All but one were preterm. They covered a wide range from the smallest three babies who were less than 28 weeks and below a kilo, to others who were more mildly premature. There were several multiple births. As such they were a group who were extremely vulnerable to infection. In addition most of the babies in the case were on ventilation. Everything suggests that these were a very sick cohort of babies. The high mortality in the unit led to outside investigations, one of them by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) which was critical of the senior leadership of the unit. 

Exactly the same thing happened to another Lucy in the Netherlands, Lucia de Berk, at the appeal trial of which Statistical expert Richard Gil, exposed the glaring inaccuracies, leading to a total exoneration of Ms de Berk.......Check the de Berk case out HERE!

And Richard Gil on the  Lucy Letby case HERE!

These and many other aspects of the case are covered in a more comprehensive critique of the evidence which you can read at your leisure HERE!. It was put together during the trial and sent to the defence lawyers who said they read it, but then failed to follow up or use it?????

Oh Yeah....if you've made it this far(?)...The Jandek record is great,and relevant only in the fact that he is an Outsider,as is anyone who supports justice in Lucy Letby's case.Which just might be the greatest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.
BASTARDS!


Tracklisting:.

1-1 Sacramento 16:39
1-2 The Trial 9:48
1-3 The Sentence 3:47 
1-4 The Chamber 11:01 
2-1 Deep Thought 10:22
2-2 Resurrection 14:06
2-3 Eternity 18:52

and

Friday 6 October 2023

Jandek – "Vienna Wednesday" (Corwood Industries – CORWOOD 0862) 2023


As Hitler roamed the streets of pre-war Vienna searching for his raison d'etre,destiny would dictate that a professional nobody called Sterling Richard Smith would plough a similar furrow so often gouged by the talentless. 
Adolf Schiklegruber would go on to adopt a single word as his nom de plume, just as Richard Smith would do a hundred years later, as a tradename for the clueless artwork they offered a disbelieving world.The Hitler one, was not gifted in the art department,even though he could paint an entire apartment in one afternoon.....TWO COATS! I think he sold even less paintings than Van Gogh....meaning ZERO.
But....Hitler committed the cardinal sin of the arts,...he gave up!? Then took out his frustrations as a narcissist down on his luck out on humanity......and we let him do it!
One thing Jandek certainly did NOT do, is give up. His art is...let's face it, total kaka, unless viewed in the whole, as a Gilbert and George style living concept. He is the Art,whereas Hitler was too stupid to realise this concept within himself.
How conscious The Corwood Representative is of this is debatable,but it can all be an acquired taste that becomes almost.....I said 'Almost'.....an addiction.He IS the Gilbert and George of Outsider Music.
And here he is,one hundred years on from the Bier Keller Putsch, almost to the day, and The Ginger Bard of Outsider-dom Jams with the Viennese locals,putting together another two CD's worth of tuneless noise,augmented by Jandek's painful moan. Again recorded in 2009,along with nearly 100% of his most recent output,fueling more rumours of his secret demise. He's dead, and whoever he entrusted his estate to has a dumpster full of Jandekian free Improvisation  ready to release on the public,stretching into the next century.
The question is often asked as to would the Holocaust have happened if Hitler had been accepted as an Artist?.....well knowing quite a few artists,the answer is a deeply harrowing 'Yes'. Of course it would,this planet is covered with Human's,and they can't help but do stuff like this, Artist or Not?
Another Question has to be asked concerning the Ginger One,as to whether he would have become a mass shooter if idiots like us didn't read too much into his music,which he undoubtedly would have. So,in conclusion, nerds like us save lives.Start by telling your kids that their awful paintings are works of genius,and you may just have saved the lives of dozens of college students. Or better still make them get a job, or don't live in the USA........No Guns, no shootings.....a slogan of pure logic that yer average American Republican is totally blind to!?


Tracklist:

1-1 Sidewalk 11:44
1-2 I Go To You 12:43
1-3 Cloud 8:46
1-4 Intensity Of Love 12:52

2-1 Galaxy 8:34
2-2 I Never Dreamed 12:16
2-3 Everywhere 7:22
2-4 Still With You 15:55


Wednesday 13 September 2023

Killdozer – "For Ladies Only" (Touch And Go – T&GLP;#39) 1989


As one has already outed "For Ladies Only" by Killdozer......the American Killdozer,and not the not bad actually French Killdozer;....as the greatest covers album of all time earlier in this thread. I thought that maybe I should post it for the less enlightened among us? Yes?
Michael Gerald, or "Mr Romance" for this project, and the Hobson Brothers "Bill" and "The Thinker" respectively,show us how to do a proper cover version. Just the correct amount of irreverence ,with a sprinkling of Irony,played as straight as their own mini-symphonies is a potent recipe for cover version heaven. Killdozer are no strangers to cover versions as most of their fantastic albums regularly had a left field track to cover by such horrible artists as Neil DiamondNeil Young ,Creedence Clearwater re-drivel,and EMF....unbelieveable!.....I did,however, have a great night out at a Leicester Polytchnic gig by EMF back in 1992,the floor was so drenched in sweat and other slimy substances that i could do a great moonwalk for the kids. (The Killdozer gig was a more reverential experience down the M1 in Northampton a couple of years earlier...with Head Of David...GR8)
Killdozer are,of course, subtly  taking the piss out of these artists, but at the same time they may also be quietly playing tribute to some guilty pleasures going on here.Sophisticated chaps that they certainly are.
If there's one track that desperately needed the Killdozer treatment, it would have to be the terminally awful "American Pie" by the one hit wonder of one hit wonders Don McLean; who to this day still lives off the back of this cheesy monster....a special kind of  Baroque Country, only equaled by Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra,and Glen Campbell in his Jimmy Webb years.
Other terrible acts that get the treatment are Bad Company,and the bloody awful Steve Miller Band!?
A point of disinterest is that the producers of both 'hit' Nirvana albums had something to do with this project. Butch Vig(Never Mind) produced it, and Steve Albini (In Utero) wrote the sleeve notes.
Killdozer had a lucky escape by the looks of it. The Grunge explosion was just around the corner,and all those bands existed shoulder to shoulder at the same time as Killdozer.They all got famous while Killdozer drifted into obscurity,and Michael Gerald became a big shot Lawyer....I guessed he was a clever sod....perhaps too clever? 

NB-there's a lot of thoroughly entertaining links on this one.

PS-one more link,I don't ask for much so sign this please(more info here),she ain't no serial killer,and she's been fitted up,done like a kipper, and thrown under the Bus: CLICK HERE and sign

Tracklisting:

1.Hush (Deep Purple/Billy Joe Royal)
2.Good Lovin' Gone Bad (Bad Company)
3.Burnin' Love (Arthur Alexander)
4.You've Never Been This Far Before (Conway Twitty)
5.One Tin Soldier - The Legend Of Billy Jack (The Original Caste)?
6.Take The Money And Run (Steve Miller Band)
7.American Pie (Don MacLean)
8.Funk #49 (James Gang)
9.Mr Soul (Buffalo Springfield)

Tuesday 12 September 2023

Melvins – "A Tribute To Throbbing Gristle" (Amphetamine Reptile Records – Scale 142) 2015


You know what? I'm sick to my back teeth of hearing about Throbbing Gristle ,writing about Throbbing Gristle, and playing Throbbing Gristle. They are by far the most popular band on this Blog,so my instinct is to go in the opposite direction, which is exactly what,well, at least G-PO (Neil Megson) and Sleazy would do. I strongly suspect that Chris and Cosey would have loved a hit,as well as getting everything TG deleted from these pages.Its people like us wot cost them all that dough they would never get. Actually, i think they made a huge packet of cash from Industrial Records,such was topsy turvy times that they existed in. Regularly DIY bands...of which TG were definitely one, made upwards of 30 grand for every self-release back on the cusp of the 80's.
Well,If i'm so sick of 'em, then why am i writing about 'em again(?) ,you may justifiably ask.
"I don't have to explain myself to you" was one of Rotten's better ripostes to similar questions,and I maintain the right to invoke that clause right now.
Of course TG are one of those very rare beasts in the world of art ,totally original, who invented their own genre, Industrial music,and remain highly influential to this day. "Seminal" as the music press would have described them. Music with no chords...who'd have believed it?
The Melvins do a good job of recreating the feel of our gloomy chums,without succumbing to the temptation of Rocking it up a tad, this is down,and it stays Down. TG never even made a track called Heathen Earth, but Buzz and the gang reanimates the album of the same name, and transfers the feel into four dark minutes.
"Hamburger Lady" has to be one of the best song (song?) titles in the modern Idiom or wot?
Yeah I love 'em,threats or no threats.

ps. do us a favor and sign this petition will ya?


Tracklist:

A Subhuman
B Heathen Earth
C Hamburger Lady(Flexi)

Melvins – "A Tribute To Pop-O-Pies / Tales Of Terror" (Amphetamine Reptile Records – SCALE 139) 2013


With the honor of being the only American representatives on this series of Tribute records by Melvins;but What,or who, the fucking hell were Pop-O-Pies? Sounds a bit like the pies filled with abattoir floor scrapings,spines and eyeballs,that i ate at half-time during a football match in the 80's,'Pukka Pies'.So, I thought it must be some American kids TV show or something worse,with a resident teenage Punk group in tow from about 1984.Awesome Doood!?....definitely NOT! 
Y'know,the Punk Rock successor to "Josie and the Pussycats"
So, I suppose i'll have to do some research...although I'll probably prefer my estimation more than the hard facts.
The Los Angeles Times said "The Pop-O-Pies were called "absolutely the worst band in California", and having listened to this Melvins cover, I could  absolutely agree absolutely. One of those awful bratty Californian post 1980 skatecore type groops of 16 year olds,with ripped jeans and converses'. The roots of Blink 182 can be found here. Of course there will be Californians who disagree.
So, I hesitantly move on to side B, and the equally obscure Tales Of Terror (Sacramento 82-86) .
I Wikipedia'd it and saw a few keywords,"Nirvana and Grunge", that made me abandon my mission immediately.....I Quote: "Their only LP greatly influenced rock bands Green River/Mudhoney and Nirvana. Considered by many as innovators to not only the Skate Rock sound and aesthetic but as well as Grunge???.....crimes that should not go unpunished.
The only Tale of Terror I can imagine is actually being inflicted a proto-grunge gig or record upon oneself, featuring any bands like this. But at least it's not Brown Day,or No Fun 41,or Wank 182. Small mercies.

ps....sign this petition will ya?

Tracklist:

A- Timothy Leary Lives
        By – Pop-O-Pies

B- Romance

By  Tales Of Terror

DOWNLOAD these punky monkees HERE!

Monday 11 September 2023

Melvins – "A Tribute To The Scientists" ( Amphetamine Reptile Records – Scale 135) 2013


I know nothing of the Scientists except that they were Australian. Never heard them;but I'm guessing they are one of those Aussie bands who tried to become the Stooges, like Radio Birdmen (named after a misheard lyric to "TV Eye"). The Saints ,however wanted to be the Raw Power era Stooges, and i'm guessing Scientists did something equally Stooges inspired.
The Saints are one of my bestest favourite groops,so this formula can't be all bad,fermented by Australia's isolation from the rest of western civilisation.
I'm guessing that Scientists are now forgotten because unlike every other Aussie band that ever existed,they didn't move to London?
Didn't The Birthday Party do a song called "Swampland?...was that a version of this? Don't fucking know,and don't really care. But evidently Buzz duzz.I'm sure he could wax lyrical about how great The Scientists were at some depth.....and i would be nodding but not listening,thinking of excuses to check on that chicken I left in the oven.

Tracklist:

A- Set It On Fire
B- Swampland

Melvins – "A Tribute To The Kinks" ( Amphetamine Reptile Records – SCALE 138)


Those infuriating Twats in America banned the Kinks from entering their charmless country because they were thought of as too violent????...Ironic coming from the most violent place that isn't actually at war on the planet,then, and now!? 
This led to the Kinky ones to be rather a cult item in the USA in the late sixties.So Buzz,being the type who eeks out anything subterranean,obviously homed in on the Kinks,and recognized that they had obviously invented 'Punk Rock'.......They didn't, because,as I've argued many a freakin' time, that there was no Punk Rock before it had a name,a look, and a manifesto. The argu-ee often came out with stuff like "Wot about Blue Cheer,Wot about MC5,Wot about the Stooges, Wot about The Dolls......well first The Dolls were american Glam,and The Stooges were American Glam, and Blue Fucking Cheer were a poor man's Led Zep.MC5 looked like the biker rock revivalist Hippies they were.All can be lumped in the proto Punk category, along with Kinks and The Troggs and The Who and many,many, mooorrrre yaaawwwn.
Change the question as to who were the earliest 'PROTO-Punk'band,now ya talkin', Yeah ,we got a toss up between The Kinks ,The Troggs and the Who?
I mean, how far do these fools want us to go back....Al Jolson, Mozart? Kunta Kinte?.....what a bunch of Kunta Kinte's!
The Melvins ,clearly understand this,being obviously conversant in rock'n'roll history, and so deliver these two Kinks classics as if they were done by the UK Subs in 1982. (they were always 2 or 3 years behind bless 'em.) 
Like all these Rocker conformist types always say about, (punk saying I can't stand number #1) "The Punk Thing"...scheech.....(punk saying I can't stand number #2)....."It's an Attitude"....OMFG.
It's all ,in fact, none of these things,especially The Punk Thing.
Once its defined by such bollocks as "It's an Attitude maaan",it dies and becomes embossed in the dictionary of Rock filed under 'P'.
And then we have "The Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame" to tell us allll about it.The most Rock'n'Roll thing that place could do is burn itself down...wherever the fuck it is? Anyone ever been there? And why?...answer the last question first.

Tracklist:

A -Atitude
B -Victoria

Sunday 10 September 2023

Melvins – "A Tribute To Roxy Music" (Amphetamine Reptile Records – Scale 141) 2013


Jello Biafra joins in on the fun reinterpreting Roxy's classic "In Every Dream Home a Heartache",which is a love song to a sex doll from what I can make out.
Alas, Jello changes the transition hook from "She Blew My Mind" to,inexplicably, "I Blew Up Your Body"? Thus removing any irony from the picture.
However, Jello does a fine Brian Ferry impression for the first half, before the characteristic Biafra warble cuts in for the the rocking part.
A classic experimental glam tune that, again is safe in anyone's hands.
Seems that Buzzo had a perchant for British Glam,unlike most of America,save Davie Bowie.Roxy Music never broke through in the USA until the reformed 80's Armani suited version of the band,sans Eno.
Amusingly Brian Ferry came from the same town as Venom (Newcastle upon Tyne).....i'm guessing that Venom never went to Art School,like The Jam,but Brian certainly did,as did the majority of Roxy (I'm guessing NOT the drummer?).The phenomenon of Art Rock begins here,and was the group most name dropped by the ensuing UK Punk Rock initiators.
 
Tracklist:

A. In Every Dream Home a Heartache

Melvins – "A Tribute To Venom" (Amphetamine Reptile Records – Scale 143) 2013


One of the more predictable influences on The Melvins would have to be everyone's favourite Geordie Black Metal band,not that there were more than one in Newcastle (uk),Venom*. As with most American groups ,the Melvins are far better musicians than their British counter-parts.Although Venom's over-riding influence on the world of Metal cannot be understated,ironically aided by their poundshop Motorhead level of competence,aided and abetted by a fine line in ridiculous Satanic lyrics;something that Lemmy would avoid like the plague.
It sounds like The Melvins doing covers of Venom tracks amazingly enough!?

*Not Black Metal exactly, but from Newcastle,so maybe, Tygers Of Pan Tang counts?

Tracklist:

A Warhead
B In League With Satan

Saturday 9 September 2023

Melvins - "A Tribute To David Bowie" (Amphetamine Reptile Records – Scale 136) 2014


Everytime Davey Jones(not he of the Monkees) enters the conversation I automatically think of that Bongwater tchoon "David Bowie Wants Ideas". Like a Glam Rock Madonna,I get the impression that anyone who comes in contact with the Great David was liable to lose the good bits of their work cherry pick pocketed by the artful vampire.The Song sounds a bit lame, ship in Robert Fripp,not weird enough ,milk Eno for his new stuff, no classic riffs,remove Mick Ronson from the credits and Insert D.Bowie.
Fine performer as he undoubtedly was, his so-called constant reinvention was also a tad over-egged;and let's face it he was rather shite from 1980 onwards,after Fripp, Eno,Tony and Mick had full diaries,and had to make do with Nile Rodgers rehashing Chic for the thousandth time.
That said, controversially, the body of collective work from 1969 to 1980 was rather special in places,if guilty of slightly Tinny production values,courtesy of "Co-Producer" Tony Visconti ,"doing a lot more than people think on these records". Check the very amusing cartoon here! 
This Tribute to the godlike Mr. D. Bowie, slash 'Jones',by Sludge miesters, Melvins,are actually better than the originals,lending a much needed heaviness to the proceedings.This is what I expected 'Tin Machine' to sound like.......unless this is Tin Machine? I'm not too conversant in the works of David Bowels I'll admit. I was too young to get into this end of the Glam market.I was much more attracted to the Yob element of Glam, like Slade and The Sweet ;and being a happy prepubescent the sexual politics and gender ambiguous bollocks went straight,geddit?,...over my head.
I can appreciate the potential power of the music now in my autumn years,and have a vague understanding of its uncomfortable place in post-empire 70's Britain. However my father would only leave the room if The Sweet were on Top of the Pops,but stayed for that "Starman" moment which Boy George et all talk about.....ooooh he pointed at me Tee Hee Hee!
The riff on Station To Station,however, cannot be done wrong in any hands,and Buzz duzz a grand job,recreating a brutal version of Tin Machine fronted by the tiresome Jim Foetus doing a fine David Bowie impression.
Side B, I know not.
Some research reveals it as the single off that live album from 1976......"Stage" I believe it was called.
Also pretty good as it happens, Show casing another immortal guitar riff? Both tunes could have benefited greatly from being slower,but I'm just being a picky twat.
One more observation, about The Bowie himself is that I always thought he was tall. Turns out that he's a tad vertically challenged ,like his mate James Osterberg (iggy poop). This fact oozes Self-Esteem problems...poor tortured little sods.

Tracklist:

A Station To Station

B Breaking Glass

Friday 8 September 2023

Melvins – "A Tribute To Queen" (Amphetamine Reptile Records – Scale 140) 2014


As today is the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth the second's death.....and someone asked for more from the 9 Clowns of thee Apocalypse series of fancy tribute singles by The Melvins. Appropriately enough here's todays off kilter Tribute to the very fashionable to like if you're an ex-grunger, and the UK's only Progressive Glam Hard rocking baroque'n' roll Disco metal merchants, Queen.Y'know, them wot done Bohemian Rhapsody, the song that broke them in the USA after the moron's saw it featured in that famous scene from Wayne's World.......did anyone really think this was funny?
Yeah, after Dave Grohl singled them out as the rockingest live band on the planet its OK to say that Queen were very very good. Of course your author got there long before The Grohl(and left as the moustache arrived).....like most people did.....as my first vinyl album ever bought, was indeed, "A Night At The Opera" featuring the aforementioned "Bohemian Rhapsody"; and yes, I know all the words and have done exactly the same as Wayne and his buddies did in the film. This over-familiarity with said Baroque'n'Roll (Yes I thought i'd use the same tag twice) classic ,once had its tolerance stretched when working in some council funded work units in the 80's,one of my government funded neighbours, whom happened to be a bunch of comic drawing Skatecore kids, decided to play a C-90 that had but one track repeated for the whole 90 minute duration of the tape.....you guessed it.These baseball capped worn at a jaunty angled buffoons Had this monolithic Queen offering on an infinite loop. This led to threats of violence after a very patient half an hour,and some polite requests,which were ignored.Locked in their unit, the door had to be sledgehammered open,and the offending tape ritually cremated by oxy-acetylene set to cutting mode measures. Of course these sartorial disaster area types thought this highly amusing as was their favourite Wayne's World scene. I won't tell you what happened when they made a "We Will Rock You" cassette in the case that I may incriminate myself. As for the Skate-core Kids,they had the right to remain silent or we would silence them.....they were booted out by local officials eventually...as was I!?
Perversely,as always , King Buzzo and erstwhile chums steered clear of any Freddie Mercury compositions,settling on the other one's, John Deacon's sweet "You're My Best Friend",whom ,being the only Queen member from my home town of Leicester,deserves such a deserving accolade such as this.And this version by The Melvins avoids doing the obvious sludge version,and strays not too far from the original feel of first single from the "Opera". A casiotone provides the melody and chord changes,suggesting a slight ironic tilt,with gentle vocals by someone called caleb Benjamin? Never liked the original, and I don't like this, but the second track, "Now I'm Here", was made for a Melvin's cover, it being one of Queen's most Rifftastic rockingest numbers from the pre-mega fame year of 1974.
As a kid,having seen it performed on Top Of The Pops,(an alt-mix with Bri playing a Gibson!?) i couldn't get the fucking tune out of my head.....couldn't sleep all night. So, had to get the single at the weeknd, at the local suburban electrical supplier ,opposite the Co-Op......,it was sold out!

Tracklist:

A "Best Friend"
Written-By – John Deacon
B "Now I'm Here"
Written-By – Brian May